With Nominet’s board-culling vote just days away, we speak to one man who will publicly support the management
- Reference: 1616056027
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/03/18/nominet_board_supporter/
- Source link:
If the single resolution receives more than 50 per cent of the votes cast, the company’s CEO and chairman will be ousted, a third board member removed, and two staff members will be removed from the organisation’s decision-making body, leaving six board members behind.
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The vote itself has been driven by a campaign called [2]PublicBenefit.uk , which argued that over the past five years Nominet has reduced public benefit donations 65 per cent and seen its operating profit plunge by 38 per cent while increasing the pay of its top three directors by 70 per cent. It also argued that Nominet has “ignored members’ concerns and input,” and “tried to silence critics, the press and members.”
The campaign has been surprisingly successful, gathering the public support of 453 of Nominet’s roughly 2,500 members, representing 25.6 per cent of the total member vote: a figure that points to a successful Yes vote given that Nominet votes rarely attract more than 10 per cent of its members.
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Desperate Nominet chairman claims member vote to fire him would spark British government intervention [4]READ MORE
The strong showing of support and the level of anger directed at Nominet’s management has, however, made those Nominet members considering a No vote wary about stating their support publicly.
Nominet’s two largest members, US registrar GoDaddy and Germany’s 1&1 Ionos are expected to vote against the campaign's measure, though they have so far have refused to comment or confirm their vote. All but two of the Nominet’s largest 10 members have kept their heads down; NameCheap and Tucows have both sided with the campaigners. We have asked the other eight for comment, and so far none have been willing to discuss the issue publicly.
In fact, we have only been able to find one company willing to speak out in support of Nominet’s current management: Irish registrar, hosting company, and ISP Blacknight. Its CEO Michele Neylon [5]wrote in January soon after the EGM campaign was launched: “I do not support the proposal and will be voting against it if and when there is a vote on the motions.”
Bad atmosphere
Since January, debate has become heated with accusations traded between Nominet and the PublicBenefit.uk campaign, most recently with Nominet’s chairman claiming that a Yes vote would lead to the UK government’s [6]intervention in the registry organisation.
As such, we spoke to Neylon to get his views on the EGM, whether he will still vote against the resolution, and whether any of the arguments in the past six weeks have struck a chord with him.
First up, Neylon tells us he will still be voting no at the EGM.
“To be honest, the EGM makes no sense to me,” he told The Register . “If people aren’t happy with how things work, there should be a dialogue – not a double-barreled shotgun.”
Nominet is not a perfect organisation, and if this EGM achieves anything it should be to send the clear message that people are unhappy
Neylon says he spoke to the man behind the campaign – Simon Blackler of Krystal – before it was officially launched, and was asked if he had any issues with Nominet. Neylon said he did. “There are certain things I don’t agree with that Nominet does but this campaign almost came out of the blue. Firing the execs seems like a very extreme way of doing anything.”
He goes on: “Nominet is not a perfect organisation, and if this EGM achieves anything it should be to send the clear message that people are unhappy. But not all the members are. There is a very clear segment of members that are unhappy but I’d like to see some level of engagement and for this EGM to force Nominet to address these things.”
On that topic, Neylon is happy to admit that for Nominet, “member engagement has always been a bit problematic,” and he is also critical of a lack of transparency over decisions made by Nominet – but he doesn’t feel that there is an “existential threat,” and so an EGM firing half the board is too drastic a route to take.
Divorce
“Do you file for divorce every time you have an argument with your wife?” he asks rhetorically. Firing five board members at once will be “hugely disruptive” he argues and notes that he “wouldn’t be surprised to see staff leave if the execs are removed.”
“Registries are meant to be boring and stable. I don’t want drama. In many ways, I don’t need to know how [the registry] works, it just needs to work.”
There is another problem with a member-forced vote that throws out the CEO and chairman, he argues: there’s nothing to stop it happening again. “I can’t see how this EGM will fix anything,” he notes, discussing in some length Nominet’s unusual legal structure. “And then what’s to stop the same thing happening again in six months?”
It’s worth digging into Nominet’s structure, which has been the root cause for several battles over the organisation in the past 20 years. It is a member-based not-for-profit organisation. But because it holds the right to sell and set prices for all .uk domain names, it is also a rich non-profit with a steady and solid stream of income. There are just under 11 million .uk names and the current wholesale price is £3.90 per year, making Nominet £43m a year in solid revenue.
Most of the members – who pay £100-a-year membership fees, and a £400 joining fee – are only interested in the main perk of membership: the ability to buy domains at that wholesale price. The general public pay around £10 per domain per year so if anyone has more than, say, 50 .uk domain names, it makes financial sense to join up.
As a result, however, the vast majority of the membership isn’t interested in how Nominet is actually run, so long as it works without a hitch. And from that perspective, Nominet is one of the better run registries on the internet.
Works well
Neylon explains that he rarely has problems with .uk domains – such as registering for his clients, transferring them, and getting someone on the phone if there’s a problem – which is not the case for many others.
The membership process is also pretty easy, he says, unlike others where he says, jokingly, “you need an affidavit from your primary school teacher, to translate documents into the right language and then deliver them on the first full moon of the year.”
As battle for future of .UK's Nominet draws closer, non-exec director hits a nerve with for-profit proposal [7]READ MORE
Nominet has set up a system for its largest customers that make things even easier which “requires jumping through a few hoops,” but is worth it for him. “For us,” he notes, “we just want the registry to work and aren’t that interested in the politics.”
But with Nominet flush with cash, there has been a consistent drive by those in charge to do something with the money. For a long time, much of the excess revenue was put in a charitable trust that Nominet set up and then disbursed to good causes. But for a certain segment of the membership, those who bought domains speculatively and so wanted the lowest possible .uk price to lower their renewal costs, that expenditure was effectively money out of their pockets.
That tension set up an almighty battle at Nominet while at the same time, Nominet’s management eyed the millions of pounds going through its coffers as an opportunity to do something bigger and, in many respects, used the “domainers” as an excuse to shift the structure of the company to one where they would be able to branch into new markets and become more than a registry operator for .uk.
However, because a segment of the member base that felt, and continues to feel, very strongly that Nominet should focus only on .uk and use excess revenue for good causes rather than corporate expansion.
Enter Russell
The management’s commercial drive really took off, however, when the current CEO, a former acquisition and mergers specialist called Russell Haworth, took over in 2015 and immediately started pushing Nominet into new markets; a drive that in some respects required him to ignore those members opposed to his plans.
The real problems came in two parts, however: first, he pulled in more money for his commercial plans by rising .uk prices by over 50 per cent and killing off Nominet’s charitable trust, bringing the money in house. And then secondly, which is where the real problems lie, the commercial efforts failed. Moves into autonomous vehicles, the internet of things, and white-space spectrum management were heavily invested in and then abandoned.
At the same time, Haworth and his team continued to pay themselves large bonuses and pay rises. Members started to get annoyed at what was being done with their money, and rather than defuse the situation, Haworth refused to talk about the commercial failures, and continued to increase executive pay. Then in what was the final straw for many members, he simply cut off the membership's only form of communication with Nominet ( [8]an online forum ) when they continued to complain, doing so with a level of disdain that led directly to the PublicBenefit.uk campaign. When board members not only refused to step in but actively supported Haworth’s actions, the campaign expanded to remove them, too.
Removing execs is still a massive disruption and quite dangerous
We asked Neylon what he makes of the reform [9]proposals put out by Nominet in light of the campaign, including a promise to freeze board pay and .uk prices for two years, increase the amount of money put toward charitable causes, and create a new member policy board (which was already in the works) and a new member communications portal.
He tells us he feels the proposals are “pretty genuine” and that the Nominet board is, in large part, trying to address a shift by businesses and organizations from websites to pages and profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and so on... where domain names aren't needed.
But, even if he doesn’t support the EGM, Neylon is clear that something has to change. “Maybe the outcome is that Russell is not the best person for Nominet in the long run,” he says. “There does need to a change in direction, a course correction, and a transition to get there.”
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But, he says, "removing execs is still a massive disruption and quite dangerous." ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YFMyyst5sGvuHrWw@xvT8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://publicbenefit.uk/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YFMyyst5sGvuHrWw@xvT8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/16/nominet_government_intervention/
[5] https://www.internetnews.me/2021/01/31/nominet-under-fire-again/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/16/nominet_government_intervention/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/10/nominet_registry_vote/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/23/nominet_internal_forum_shut_down/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/11/nominet_board_offer/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YFMyyst5sGvuHrWw@xvT8wAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Sounds like a right devious little shit
But if you employ an acquisitions and merger man to run what is essentially a monopolistic utility - what do you expect? The fact, so far, that he hasn't been spectacular successful is not the point. It is - should you be using a captive base to create a venture company?
So the problem is not Russell. He is merely a symptom. Its the direction that Nominet took when or before he was appointed. There really isn't room for compromise. We either fly with Russell et al hoping that he will strike rich. But if he does - who will benefit beyond him and his buddies? Or not and return to being an innovative utility. In which case Russell et al are unsuited to run it. It's a vote about direction, not people.
I agree with Michele Neylon that Nomnet as a utility in delivering .uk domains is a star compared to other registries. I too am a reseller for non uk names. None of those have hiked their prices 60% - and if they did I can switch registries. No such choice for .uk. Hence, it's essential they be stopped from exploiting their unique monopolistic position.
Only way to do that is to vote YES on Monday. I have proxied Simon to do that for me. I'm still awaiting details of how to attend the EGM only two working days beforehand. It is almost if they don't want me there. They are running right up to the edge on their legal obligations. They may have crossed it.
An (enraged) Nominet Member
Re: Sounds like a right devious little shit
But if you employ an acquisitions and merger man to run what is essentially a monopolistic utility - what do you expect? The fact, so far, that he hasn't been spectacular successful is not the point. It is - should you be using a captive base to create a venture company?
I think it's several things. Waaay back in the mists of time, Nominet offered me a job. Mainly because I knew a lot of the people running it at the time. But my knowledge of registrar functions was pretty much limited to a well thumbed copy of DNS and Bind. Mangling zone files, especially root zone files was best left to the sysadmins. Plus I'm mostly ethical, and it didn't seem right. But that was kind of how it was in those days.
But that was down to it's success, ie it was swimming in cash so could afford to create the odd job and spend money organising or attending various jollies. Outreach with beer. So I think there can be a problem with 'non-profits' that become very profitable, especially when people confuse that with charities. This is an area that could do with general reform, especially with member 'owned' non-profits who can end up subsidising stuff like unjustifiable pay rises, or spaffing cash on pet projects.
So I guess part of Nominet's problem was it's embarassment of riches, and the temptation to enrich themselves. And in part, end up with a situation where the members are rewarding failure. So just on the basis of picking losers, Haworth should be fired, not rewarded. Nominet was never intended to be a VC fund or incubator, and the money wasted on that should have gone towards reducing costs, not increasing them to try and build up an M&A warchest, or just allow unjustifiable pay increases.
So I think it's well overdue for reform, and getting back to basics. Run the registry, do the outreach stuff, don't waste time or money on non-core business.
Re: Sounds like a right devious little shit
I don't see much in terms of evasion.
It's working for what he wants it for. The problems that everyone else sees, don't matter to him. If all customers are paying the same for their registrations, then that isn't going to affect his customer base as they'll have to pay the same wherever they go.
It just seems to me that he just isn't enraged by the same moral issues and behaviour towards members, that other people are. So he's fine with corporate greed and silencing of members who don't agree with where the management are going. Like higher prices for registrations, etc.
Nominet: the UK org that hates UK companies.
So the biggest known supporters of the current setup are registrars from Ireland, Germany and the USA.
The main opponents of the current setup are from the UK.
Disgusted to see Nominet management being of more benefit to non-UK companies than local ones.
R U sh*tting me?
I just looked at the numbers.
An outfit with only £5 million profit pays its top three directors £1.7M, WTF!
That's insane. It's like the directors think they own the company.
I hope you're ousting a load of board members too, it's really their job to curtail a directors greed [edit: kicking 5 out, yeh kick them out, The last time I saw a board so derelict in duty, it was Nokia, this is not even a close call, look at what happened to Nokia , that could have been avoided if the board had done its job. This board hasn't done its job either, you need to cull them].
GDDY, DRI (on Xetra), both publicly traded, and if they support directors milking the company, then you need to go look at their own management. Buy some shares and go take a look.
It's normal for failed management to pretend that replacing them would make things worse, and their failure is the best possible outcome. That's bullshit, normal lying bullshit, the drivel that is churned out by every failed CEO ever.
Elop ended up with $25 million in his pocket and Nokia sold at firesale prices to Microsoft. The board failed to do its job. This is the same situation.
Re: R U sh*tting me?
"That's insane. It's like the directors think they own the company."
With the current setup they more or less do. When you cut sweetheart deals with those members with the biggest clout you don't have to worry about all the smaller companies and their concerns.
Neylon's quote “Registries are meant to be boring and stable." is right. It does not mean that the C suite can use it as their personal piggy bank.
Re: Nominet: the UK org that hates UK companies.
Aha, but the breaking news is the fourth largest uk registry - the Canadian Tucows - has already voted YES. That takes the votes to over 2 million and 28%. It's increasingly hard to see how Russell can stitch together a coalition to overcome that hurdle from the other 3 percent-ers. But they are obviously trying and, as we have seen, will pull every devious trick to make that happen.
A (slightly happier) Nominet Member
"there should be a dialogue – not a double-barreled shotgun"
Difficult to have a dialogue when the Board cuts off the forum that would have allowed it.
I suppose this guy would have voted Trump if he lived in the US.
Re: "there should be a dialogue – not a double-barreled shotgun"
Haworth's blocking of all attempts at dialogue clearly demonstrate his lack of ability, it should have been obvious to him that effectively putting his fingers in his ears and singing la la la, would only result in somebody shouting much louder to be heard.
I think for a UK registry there ought to be voting limitations applied to non UK members.
Re: "there should be a dialogue – not a double-barreled shotgun"
Exactly. His talk about dialogue is total nonsense - and he knows it!
not a double-barreled shotgun
What do they use in a Knacker's Yard?
Re: not a double-barreled shotgun
If that's a technical question : a captive bolt pistol
bloke from Ireland uninterested in cleaning up british public life.
there should be a dialogue – not a double-barreled shotgun
he is a hypocrite, drawing attention to what is likely to happen now, conveniently 'forgetting' a volley after volley from a shotgun fired by the 'management' in place of a dialogue, who embarked on a LONG-TERM heist to turn nominet into their own, private, cash cow, 'because why not'.
I say, shotgun is not good enough now, use a 6-barrel autocannon, then a flame-thrower to burn off the soot, then 5 layers of bleach, then inspect under the microscope, then new carpet, to be checked regularly, to make sure the ghost of the past management isn't hatching underneath. To clarify, this is a minimalist suggestion.
Re: there should be a dialogue – not a double-barreled shotgun
Nuke it from orbit. It's he only way to be sure.
Re: there should be a dialogue – not a double-barreled shotgun
I think nuking it from orbit is overkill, think about the surroundings, a nice application of a sufficient amount of [1]FOOF should be enough.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioxygen_difluoride
All I want is a registry that just works.
So, on the basis that Hitler kept the trains running on time, everything is just fine and dandy?!!!
Neylon in Norwegian
Translates as Quisling.
Divorce after every argument?
If your spouse starts taking ever greater portions of your income for their own desires, spends it frivolously & capriciously on things you were never consulted on, loses you massive amounts of money on said speculative gambling, & refuses to even entertain the idea of talking to you to debate your side of the issue, not only would I want a divorce but a restraining order, an independant audit of their finances to claw back my money, & a mandatory psychiatric evaluation to force them to get help for their obviously sociopathic tendencies.
Disruptive? YES it'll be disruptive, as in it'll put a heavy boot on the neck of the lying & theiving little fucker to stop their graft. That's the whole. fucking. point.
How many times can someone kick you...
...before you decide that the relationship isn't working?
The historical behaviour (ignoring outcomes of previous investigations, closing member engagement channels *during* membership meetings e.t.c. e.t.c.) alone should be enough, let alone the shenanigans that have taken place since the EGM was called
the single act of providing membership contact details via 500+ sheets of A4 paper when requested indicates exactly what the board of Nominet think of accountability and the membership
that anyone who had the opportunity could consider NOT enacting change when presented to them confuses me, and leads me to suspect that those that don't are more than happy with the current situation (e.g. large registrars who benefit from their "special relationship" aka .uk domain fiasco)
If the resolution doesn't pass, signalling from the current board already shows what will take place and that is a move to a structure away from not-for-profit to corporate organisation and then the chance to correct the ship will become infinitely harder, or impossible, in the future
I for one have moved my domains away from those enabling this current management to registrars that have realised that the tools to correct this situation were envisaged from the outset and should be enacted, before the chance to fix is gone for good
Eyes closed
Unfortunately Michelle appears to have had his eyes and ears closed for the last 5/6 years, otherwise he'd know this isn't out of the blue, and that many attempts at dialogue have been made.
You can't have dialogue with a company that shuts down avenues of communication and only wants to speak to individuals, which it then gives platitudes to and "you're the first one to bring this up" BS. A company that claims to be at the forefront of digital:
- but sends member details out on several hundred sheets of A4
- does not give members all the information they need to make an informed EGM voting choice
- gleefully closes down a members forum (after roundly ignoring it for several years)
Is not a company that wants dialogue.
Sorry Michelle, you're a decent bloke, but you've been asleep at the wheel on this one.
Hey hey we're the monkeys! ...and we want more bananas
Directorships are most often a reward for going to the right school. And remember, some of those schools specialise in elevating sub-monkey brains into positions of power, where their lack of thought can be mitigated by squadrons of intelligent, poorly paid drones, who actually get things done and make it all work.
The problem is, once accustomed to getting paid for doing nothing of particular use to the company sets in, it isn't such a great leap to wanting to get paid more for doing sod all. And not being hampered with a high functioning brain, the idea that the plebs might object to your getting remunerated far beyond your worth, just doesn't get factored in.
Their grab for everything they can get their hands on is delivering consequences they never conceived of, and thus have proved themselves incapable of the forward thinking necessary to run an organisation. Damned by their own actions and lack of forethought. You are the weakest link...F.O.A.D.
I have a great deal of respect for Michele BUT
- Removing the executives IS a dramatic step .. MANY other efforts over several years have failed
- Yes you do get divorced after [a long sad period of failing relationship] an argument
- The double-barrelled shotgun is simply down to how the Nominet board has decided to respond to this call for an EGM (drama and panic) - a fantastic plan has been put together by publicbenefituk with some great interim directors
However, we all seem to share the same desire for change and there is always the option to sit down and talk. Hey Michele - how about offering some sort of mediation here?
Sounds like a right devious little shit
A job in government awaits with that level of bullshit and evasion.